Synopsis:Water, the ultimate source
of life, is often mankind's greatest killer during the cataclysms of
tsunamis, mudslides, killer storms, droughts and wildfires. This course
provides a common forum for science and humanities students to
collaboratively analyze the physical processes and consequences of the
distribution and movement of water throughout the environment. No
prerequisites. No exams.

Synopsis:Water, the ultimate source of
life, is often mankind's greatest killer during the cataclysms of tsunamis,
mudslides, killer storms, droughts and wildfires. This course provides a common
forum for science and humanities students to collaboratively analyze the
physical processes and consequences of the distribution and movement of water
throughout the environment. No prerequisites. No exams.

Semester I; 2005-06

John F. Hermance

Professor of Environmental Geophysics/Hydrology

Department of Geological Sciences

BrownUniversity

Providence, RI02912

Tel.: 401-863-3830

Office: Room 167, GeochemBuilding

324
Brook Street (Corner
Brook and George Streets)

e-mail: John_Hermance@Brown.Edu

Course Description

The distribution and behavior of water in the
global environment has a multitude of intersecting facets. Fundamentally, of
course, is the need to protect and supply clean drinking water for the world’s
population. However, throughout human history water has not only been the
ultimate source of life, it has often been mankind's greatest killer, impacting
entire cultures through the cataclysms of killer storms, floods, droughts, mud
slides and wildfires. Which is the worst of these catastrophes? It clearly
depends on where you are standing!

Californians are beset with mudslides one
season, wildfires the next, while a sudden tsunami seizes the public’s
attention worldwide. However, far more insidious killers are droughts. In Bengal, India,
from the early British colonial era (circa 1750) to 1900, famines either from
the failure of the monsoons to bring sufficient rain, or from crop damage
resulting from too much rain, have killed more than 13 million people. In
1921-22, in the breadbasket of the newly-formed Soviet Union, a drought in
southern Russia and the Ukraine led to
a famine in which 5 million people are estimated to have died. In 1928-29, in China a
drought-caused famine killed 3 million people. Today, in the Sudan, millions
of Africans are threatened by civil strife driven by cultural differences
fueled by drought.

The impact of water scarcity is manifest in
many ways. Wildfires have been sources of catastrophic conflagrations since
prehistory, and are an increasing menace as suburban populations encroach on
the world’s outback. Annually, in North America,
hundreds of thousands of acres are burned and thousands of homes are destroyed
causing many hundreds of millions of dollars of economic damage. Then, during
heavy deluges from El Nino driven storms, burned-over areas become killing
fields for mudslides and flooding.

Sickness and mortality is endemic in the
majority of the world’s population due to inadequate and disease-ridden water
supplies in water-scarce countries. While, in the minds of westerners, this is
an issue most often associated with the third world, water quality is a home-grown
issue in developed countries as well. Many US water supplies are becoming
stressed by over-use; and/or polluted with more than trace amounts of PCBs,
MBEs, pesticides, fertilizers and even prescription drugs. Our nation has a
marvelous tradition for bringing forth fruit from deserts, at the expense of
choking our rivers with dams, and turning the livelihood of fishermen into the
dry land culture of fish farms. But wait, …
what is this that the diet-conscious public should not eat fish more than twice
a week, because the fish farm ponds themselves are laden with carcinogens? Or
are they?

But water-deficiency is not the only issue - too much water can be devastating as well. The storm surge, flooding
and winds from a "predicted" monsoonal cyclone in the Bengal Sea of
India killed over 300,000 people in Bangladesh in a few hours in 1970.
In 2004 and early 2005, while the coastlines of the Indian Ocean recovered from
a major tsunami, California and the Western US were wracked with storms; and
heavy rains and melting snows caused devastating floods along the Ohio River in
the East. Associated with excess water is mass wasting: mud slides and debris
flows. The catastrophic movement of unstable earth material is perhaps the most
underestimated global hazard. It can happen anywhere! Landslides in the United States,
alone, cause at least $1 billion to $2 billion in economic losses annually.

This course provides a
common forum for students in the sciences and humanities to collaboratively
analyze the physical processes associated with both the beneficial and the
catastrophic aspects of water in the environment. At one level, we want to explore issues of water sufficiency and the
implications of science for good management procedures. On another level, we
want to understand the causes
and behavior of various natural water-related phenomena, ranging from the
percolation of groundwater through a watershed to El Niño’s global scale teleconnections between the
oceans and atmosphere. On a third level, we want to assess the impact of water-related
catastrophes on mankind, and discuss the prospects for the national and
international community to predict and mitigate their effects. To do so,
students will engage in a semester-long, interactive dialogue on issues,
solutions and consequences, while drawing on an evolving understanding of how
water, due to its unique character and interaction with the sun and earth,
transports energy and mass through the environment – sometimes the benefactor,
sometimes the adversary of mankind.

Open to freshman and
sophomores in the humanities and sciences. One’s grade is based on individual
initiative, problem sets, essays, oral reports, research papers and class
participation. No formal exams. Individual initiative is profusely awarded. No
prerequisites.

General Educational Objectives

In keeping with the spirit
of a liberal arts education as defined at a modern university/college such as
Brown – to nurture self-actualization, critical analysis and the ability to communicate
ideas based on rational concepts – and to address a national concern with
bridging the communication barrier between the sciences and the humanities –
this course serves as a vehicle to attain the following broad educational
objectives:

1)
To better understand fundamental physical processes which drive the major
natural systems of our planet. How do these processes affect humanity, and how
can humanity can better adjust itself to accommodate its environment? To
discriminate between those events where nature has gone awry and man is
suddenly an unexpected victim of a catastrophic drama on a far greater stage,
and those events where man has knowingly (or unknowingly) placed himself in
harm's way and is the victim of a process that was totally predictable.

2)
To bring together science and humanities students in a common forum to exchange
ideas, attitudes and perceptions. This is not a science course for
non-scientists! Rather it is a course for scientists and humanists. It
is a course in which students in the physical, biological and social sciences
can explore together with humanists – students of philosophy, language,
fine arts and history – the uniqueness, as well as the commonality, of their
respective patterns of inquiry, abstract reasoning and critical analysis.

3)
To foster a deeper appreciation of global geography in understanding the
interaction of mankind with large-scale natural phenomena. To develop a sense
of similarities and contrasts in how various cultures react to their natural
environment, and how the natural environment and geography modify local and
regional cultures.

4)
To develop an understanding of the ways in which numerical data are handled and
quantitative analyses evolve. An important component of these studies is the
concept of model-building in which highly complex situations are reduced to one
or several fundamental attributes which largely determine the character of the
entire system to the level of accuracy required in a specific application, or
to prompt a specific decision.

5)
To promote literacy in science and in the English language through critical
reading, analysis, speaking and writing. A notable element of our pedagogy in
this regard is cultivating frequent oral and written exchanges among students.
A number of the written exchanges will undergo peer review and, following their
critique, will be revised for further analysis and discussion.

Provisional Weekly Schedule by
Topic

(A detailed list of topics
follows)

Water
Movement Through the Natural Environment (Week #1)

Global
Circulation of Water in the Oceans:
Dynamics of Currents, Waves and the Coastal Environment (Week #2)

Global Circulation of Water in the Oceans:
Dynamics of Currents, Waves and the Coastal Environment

The
Sea Water Column

Morphology
of the Ocean Floor

Continental
Margins.

Abyssal
plains

Midocean
Ridges.

Sediment.

Ocean
Currents and Circulation

Weather
and climatic stabilization and destabilization from ocean water masses

Example:
El Niño

ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation). El Niño refers to the arrival of a
warm pool of water in the eastern Pacific floating on cooler ocean water
transported from the western Pacific. The Southern Oscillation is a see-saw
shift in surface air pressure between Darwin, Australia, and Tahiti, having
important consequences for global weather patterns, such as increased rainfall
and flooding across the southern tier of the US and drought in the West Pacific
causing devastating brush fires in Australia.

Shoreline
erosion, emergent and submergent coasts

Question for Discussion: Should beaches be artificially replenished when naturally
washed away?

Waves,
Tsunamis and Storm Surges -- Causes

Examples
(suggested topics for student mini-research projects):

Port Royal, Jamaica. June 7, 1692:
Thousands killed as a combination of earthquake and tsunami obliterated this Caribbean seaport and pirate haven. What is the evidence
for other tsunamis in the Atlantic and Caribbean.

Concepcion, Chile. February 20, 1835: A quake witnessed by Charles Darwin killed more than 5,000 people in
the Chilean cities of Concepcion and Santiago, while a tsunami associated with the tremor
ruined the village
of Talcahuano.

Agadir, Morocco. February 29, 1960: Within 15 seconds, a midnight quake killed 12,000 people in this
coastal resort. What were the effects of sea waves, if any?

South-central Chile. May 21-30, 1960: A series
of severe quakes killed more than 5,000 Chileans. On May 22 the worst of the
tremors generated tsunamis that raced across the Pacific, adding another 450
deaths to the disaster toll.

Indian Ocean,
Christmas, 2004: 150,000 people
killed in 40 countries bordering Indian Ocean from an earthquake on the
convergent plate margin at Sumatra.

Very
heavy rainfall over a short period causing rivers to rise and flood.

Sudden
melting of ice and snow, especially in spring in mountain areas.

Prolonged
heavy rain over weeks or months, saturating the ground and swelling rivers.

Very
high waves (tsunamis) along coastal areas, caused by high winds, tides or
earthquakes.

Human
factors that cause floods:

The
collapse of river defenses or dams.

A
change in the land use affecting the stores and flows of water in the drainage
basin.

Examples for Discussion:

China, Yangtze River Flood, July-August 1931: Over 51 million people affected (1/4 of China’s
population). 3.7 million people perished due to disease, starvation or
drowning. This flood was preceded by a prolonged drought in China during
the 1928-1930 period.

Bangladesh Cyclone, November 1970: Winds, downpours, flooding of the Ganges,
coupled with a storm surge killed between 300,000- 500,000 people.

Mississippi
floods; Summer, 1993, Midwest USA: 150 levees (embankments) collapsed, dams burst and
bridges were closed. 48 people were killed. Nine states affected. Floodwaters
covered 23 million acres and in places spread across the flood plain for 10 -
25 km.. Almost 70,000 people were evacuated. Final damage costs were estimated
at $10 billion. Over 25% of this was crop losses. The town of Valmeyer,
Illinois, was
abandoned after the floods and rebuilt on higher ground. The river was closed
to traffic for two months - 15% of the USA's
freight uses the Mississippi.

Mountain building
occurs at the boundaries between plates
Three types of plate margins:

Divergent

Convergent

Transform

Types of mountains

1.
Folded mountains

2.
Volcanic mountains

3.
Fault-block mountains

4.
Upwarped mountains

Examples
of how water interacts with geologic processes

Water
and crustal isostasy

The
concept of isostasy: The earth's crust, lithosphere and asthenosphere are in
buoyant equilibrium so that less dense rigid materials "float" on a
more dense plastic substratum.

Case
Study: Glacial "loading" causes crustal deflection and unloading
causes . . . (?)
During the last ice-age, 3-kilometer-thick masses of ice caused down-warping of
the earth's crust.
In the 8,000 to 10,000 years since the last ice sheets melted, uplifting of as
much as 330 meters has occurred in the Hudson Bay region.

Activity:
Reconstruct the sea level shoreline for a selected area of the earth for
various climate scenarios.

Los
Angeles
against the Mountains, John McPhee, 1989, The Control of Nature, pp.
183-272, Farrar Straus Giroux, New
York. (The people of Los Angeles attempting to thwart debris flows
threatening the many housing developments proliferating in the mountains
surrounding the city.)

Environmental
Setting: Fuel-rich area (may range from forests to "deserts")

forests

brush

grassland

chaparral

cities

Causes
(triggers):

lightning

campfires

arson

spontaneous combustion

earthquakes

volcanic eruptions

Types
of wildfires

Groundfires
occur in thick layers of organic materials, old root work and peat deposits

Canopy
fires, temperatures 500-800°C

Crown
fires

Mass
fire (or running crown fire)

Primary
differences between grassland and forest fires

Processes
and controlling factors

Topography
and surface configuration

Elevation,
slope, and orientation

A
long uniform slope allows the fire to move upslope without hindrance and aids a
fire in spreading rapidly.

Daytime
valley breezes caused by the heating of the valley floor and subsequent
convection reinforce forest fires as they move upslope.

Upslope
fire spreading may be slowed down at night due to the mountain breeze.

High
elevation summits: The effect of higher elevation is usually one of lower
temperature. This lowers evaporation from soils and plants so that moisture
levels are high. At high elevations clouds and mist prevail and tend to protect
high altitude forests from fire.

Low
elevation summits: At lower average elevations the very tops of hills and
ranges are usually more prone to fire. Summits are arid. Soils are thinner,
more eroded, tend to be drier as they are exposed to wind.

Windward
versus leeward slopes: Windward slopes tend to receive more orographic
precipitation and are more resistant to fire. Advantage may be offset by the
more frequent occurrence of thunderstorms and lightning on the windward side.

Northern
slopes in the northern hemisphere face away from the sun tend to be cooler and
hold more moisture. Northern slopes, therefore, tend to be less fire prone.

Fighting
forest fires. Know the land, and the way fires burn.

Forest fire mitigation. Know the land,
local culture, and what allows fires to burn.

July 13, 2002:
Biscuit fire, Klamath Mountains,
Oregon. Burned 500,000 acres.
Threatened 17,000 people in Oregon's IllinoisValley. Cost $153 million. Current issue
is whether to log and reforest the millions of acres of national forest that
burn every year, or leave them largely to recover on their own.

Discussion:
The Yin & Yang of Floods and Droughts(The following will
be based, whenever possible, on student research projects w/ oral reports.)

Examples:

Central
& Western Europe. 1315-17: Unusually heavy rains in the spring and summer of 1315
devastated crops and resulted in a famine that killed as much as 10 percent of
the population.

Bengal, India. 1769-70: Five of the world's 10 worst
famines occurred in India
between this date and 1900, killing from 13 million to as many as 26 million
people. In each case the cause of the famine was either the failure of the
monsoons to bring sufficient rain, or crop damage resulting from too much rain.

USSR. 1921-22: Drought in southern Russia and the Ukraine,
the breadbasket of the Soviet Union, led to a
famine in which 5 million people may have died.

China. 1928-29: A drought-caused famine killed 3
million people.

U.S.A. & Canada.
1988: Most severe drought since the
Dust Bowl.

Question
for discussion: Are water issues a catalyst for aggression or for peaceful
collaboration and coexistence?

Commonality
of "Catastrophic Phenomena"

Triggering

Of
primary phenomena

Of
secondary phenomena by primary events

Survival;
Prediction, Preparedness and Prevention

Mustering
of aid: The role of national, state, local and individual assistance

Cultural
contrasts in the way societies react to catastrophes

Fundamental
elements of risk assessment

Question(s)
for discussion: How do the following issues factor into the equation?

Other material --
background notes, Power-points, etc. -- will be distributed in class, or placed
on the Internet, during the course of the semester. Extensive use will be made
of the libraries electronic resources and the internet.

Evaluation of Student Performance

The following outline is
offered as a guide to those students who prefer a rigorous grading scheme. However,
we would much prefer that students take the initiative in formulating their
individual evaluation procedure (i.e. propose your own individual grading
scheme) in collaboration with the TA(s) and, ultimately, the instructor. Some
students may prefer to apply their communication skills through writing,
visually and/or orally; others may prefer a more quantitative approach through
modeling and mathematical analysis.

Most importantly, all
students are urged, either individually or jointly with their colleagues,
to study and to report in-depth on one or more research areas. We will, in turn,
either ease up on some of our expectations in other pursuits (e.g. problem
sets, formal research papers etc.) or assign extra credit (often as much as 30
grade points! see below). This will be negotiated with the student on an
on-going individual (or group) basis. [Students with alternative learning
styles please note the availability of alternative evaluation schemes, but to
implement these procedures please identify your interest early in the
semester.]

But let us be clear, the
following outline will be the basis for determining a student's grade
unless he/she takes the initiative in making other arrangements within the
first two weeks of the semester. Rest assured on two counts:

First, if the student goes through this
lock-step scheme, they are well on their way to an "A".

Second, we will constantly nag the student
to experiment a little on their own, or with their colleagues, to get out of
their rut and to begin thinking creatively. Your creative energy, however, should
become focussed before mid-semester (see below).

Method of Assigning Course Grade

1.) Written Research
Compositions

Summary:
Three (3) brief (40 words or less) expository definitions. Two (2) brief (80
words or less) expository descriptions of an assigned water-related process.
One (1) statement of theme or thesis. One (1) topical paper (600 to 750 words).
Each exercise must undergo revision(s) to be accepted. May be combined with, or
integrated into, other activities described below (see 3), 4) and 5),
especially; but, again …be creative in patching together material in a way most
interesting and helpful to you. Students who opt for this activity will receive
credit for the exercise upon required revisions being accepted by the
Instructor.

c)
Statement of theme or thesis (1 @ 200 words or less) 10 pts
(This can be a synopsis of a technical article, a proposed research paper, or
for a hypothetical research paper, and need not be for an actual paper that you
plan to write)d) Topical Paper (2 pages, 750 words maximum)10 pts

This
category nurtures the creative element and fosters the individual's
responsibility and maturity. As a means of emphasizing our recognition
of the importance of self-actualization as a direct measure of an
individual's internal development, we encourage the student to become
voluntarily involved in one or more optional activities associated with
specific evaluative protocols (i.e. grading procedures) which, while perhaps
requiring a more subjective evaluation of each student by the instructor,
allows the student at his/her discretion a variety of directions in which to
develop, and of opportunities to demonstrate his/her intellectual growth. Some
examples of possible activities:

a)
Class Participation

i)
Spontaneous contributions in class.

ii)
Short answer essays.

iii)
Brief formal interrogatories.

iv)
Brief (5 minutes or less, or more) class presentations on current events or on
topics currently being discussed in class.

b)
Special Projects (grade points to be negotiated)

i)
Oral presentation(s) on individual or group research (typically 10 minutes.).

ii)
Written report(s) on individual or group research.

aa)
Reviews on outside reading.

bb)
Interviews (personal experiences, reporters, scientists, etc.).

cc)
On-site visits or investigations.

dd)
Physical demonstrations or experiments.

ee)
Computer simulations and numerical modeling.

It
is strongly recommended — but not strictly required — that the results of such
special projects be summarized to the class as an integral part of the lecture
series. It would be constructive to coordinate your presentation with the
coverage of the relevant material in regular lecture/discussion. Alternatively,
a student may opt to present a summary of his/her project at the end of the
course. Except in exceptional circumstances, all projects have some written
component. The cost of constructing physical demonstrations is usually borne by
the student.

A
short description of all special projects must be submitted for approval in
writing (with a suggested time-table for completion) to the instructor as early
in the course as possible, but in no case later than Mid-Semester noontime. As
the student’s ideas are evolving, he/she (or the group) is encouraged to
discuss these projects with the instructor or TA(s).

4) "News story of
the week":

A
weekly, written synopsis of a water-related report from the news media, topical
technical journals or from the Web. An electronic or hard copy of the
actual article, or articles, used should be appended to a student composed, 250
to 400 word review, professionally presented with citations, etc. Due the Wednesday
of each week beginning in week 2. A total of 5 due throughout the first half of
the semester. Late submissions not permitted. Generally 2 grade pts each
providing they contain some thoughtful analysis, but some may warrant extra
credit. Students will be randomly selected to present an informal, spontaneous
oral overview to the class each week.

10 grade points

5) Surfing the Internet
Web:

A)
Each student is expected to identify a total of 2 unique water-related
resources on the Internet, respectively, on 2 separate occasions throughout the
course of the semester (i.e. approx. 1 resource every three weeks; 3 pts each).
These will be appropriately documented and reported (see Item 2, above).
Include the URL and a representative hardcopy (printout) of representative
material.6 grade points

B)
The following web exercise is totally student-initiated. At their own
discretion, students should monitor specific Web pages of their choosing on the
Internet for a period of days, during which they will systematically download,
on a daily basis, key hydrological data or "events" – such as (but
not exclusively) satellite or ground-based radar images of storms, videos,
precipitation data, streamflow data – from specific regions or watersheds that
they will analyze and, at some point, disseminate to the rest of the class.
(This will be done on an ad hoc basis throughout the first half of the
semester, for a maximum grade point accumulation of 6 points.)up to 6 grade points

———

Possible Semester Total
Grade: 130 grade points

[Out of which each
student's letter grade will
be based on 90 points for an A, etc.; see below.]

Based on the actual cumulative grade points,
in general, a grade of

90 points or
greater will be an A,

75 points or
greater will be a B,

60 points or
greater will be a C,

59 points or less
will be a no credit (NC)

Note regarding alternative learning styles: The class is purposely designed to naturally
accommodate the different ways in which students learn, and can easily adjust
to particular situations. This may be particularly beneficial to students with
alternative learning styles (including, but not exclusively, special needs,
such as learning inefficiencies, health considerations, physical needs, etc.).
Students who might want to enhance this feature of the course – such as those
who simply "learn differently", and would benefit from alternative requirements
for assignments, assessments and/or tests – are encouraged to advise the
instructor (Jack) as early in the semester as convenient. Some students may
simply "learn differently", and would benefit from alternative
requirements for assignments, assessments and/or tests. Students with diagnosed
special needs should also contact the instructor early in the semester,
regardless if they anticipate special accommodation. All such arrangements will
be confidential.

Standard Policy
Toward Late-Work:
All assignments are due on the date and the time indicated. If this is
class-time, then assignments will be collected at the beginning
(precisely!) of class. After that time, until 4 PM the next day (unless there
is a persuasive case made by a Dean), homework will be prorated to 90% of its
normal, on-time grade. By the beginning of the next class, the grade will be
prorated to 80%. After that, to the beginning of the next class, grades will be
prorated to 70%. After 1 week, homework will be prorated to 50%, and will not
be accepted after 2 weeks from due date.

Policy toward plagiarism or other academic
misconduct

Students are encouraged to work
together and collaborate on homework, writing and projects – however, you
need to keep me (Jack) informed as to what and who this involves! The
majority of students in this course may not be familiar with the instructor's
broad & liberal style of assigning grade credit (which is virtually
anything goes, if it makes sense to your learning hydrology). The instructor is
most generous in recognizing individual interests and career objectives of the
student, and how this interest can bridge across two or more courses. Since I
want to provide the maximum opportunity to the motivated student to explore
non-traditional areas of inquiry in non-traditional ways, it is possible for
some to abuse the situation. Students should be aware, however, that there are
limits, and that transgressors will be summarily dealt with.

While students may — and are encouraged to —
discuss their homework with other class members (or prior class members), it is
expected that each person will usually contribute an independent component of
an assignment — an independent component that is specifically and
unequivocally identified. Students working together on an exercise or a
term project, and submitting virtually the same response or report, should
clearly identify each individual's contribution. In some cases, a specific
student – for a specific exercise – may contribute little or nothing to a group
activity, but still feel they benefit educationally from passively
participating (for informational background, etc.). This is completely
acceptable in some circumstances, and such a student may receive partial
credit for the work, providing she/he clearly states the same, and describes
the level of (or lack of) their participation.

But be aware and forewarned: The discovery of plagiarism of another's work in any
form, particularly copying — in spirit or substance — another student's homework
from this semester, or from previous semesters, without proper and unambiguous
acknowledgment, will immediately result in a "No Credit" for the
course, and notification of the Dean's Office.

Relation to Projects in Other Courses

In some cases, it may be appropriate, even
encouraged, for a student to continue, extend, or supplement activities
that developed in a previous or a parallel course, or from independent
research. However, if a student uses material from other activities to be
assigned credit for the present course, such material must be
identified. Discovery of failure to do will result in the student receiving a
No Credit for the course.

Related Courses in Geological Sciences

The following courses are recommended for
those students who wish to go into more depth in specific subjects which were
introduced in the present course: